Thursday, May 2, 2013

Greeting to all you tiny but growing viewers of  Varzea Blog!

The merry month of May is upon us.... it was a good wet winter, but now no rain since the first week in April - maybe no more until October - most unusual, but the unusual is usual in these strange days.....  

And what is this strangeness just appeared in the middle of the varzea (the "varzea" is the Portuguese word for the meadow land, by the way)...?


... pretty funky climbing frame, and soon to be our BIRD HOTEL, with luxury accommodation for (on ground floor) separate apartments for geese, ducks and turkeys, and on the mezzanine and second floor,  chickens.  They will be free to roam and peck in a sector bounded by 150 metres of electric netting, with movable pond for the aquatic flappers.  They are to be the varzea's grazing animals, looking after the fruit and nut trees and preventing the chance of dry-grass fires in the summer - with about 200 little trees about this is pretty important.  It's a long-term plan, which will save long hours of cutting, and  make free eggs and meat. And they shit!!

Meanwhile the little school, which is here every Thursday (ages 3 to 6), has a new mini-garden - modelled again here by Megan and friend David, with fig-tree in the background....



Jade is back (yippee!) from her sojourn in Nice with her family, and we have a great couple, Dominique and Wendy, and their 2 young ones in bed at time of this photo (also another Dominique, a Varzea "regular").....



Only a few weeks until the WWOOF European convention being held here - 50 delegates here for 4 days, 23-26 May. nothing much prepared yet, but no worries, mate... eeek!!

Special issue live from bird-hotel in a week or 2!! - don't miss it, tell your friends!!








1 comment:

Unknown said...

Great bird hotel, any room at the inn for me?
Just a quick note to say thank you for sharing your land and experience whilst embarking on the PDC, permaculture design course, Varzea Viva, Portugal. You made me feel very welcome and I felt like part of your family. It was really encouraging seeing permaculture in practice and witnessing you all at one with the land, and all the people on the PDC course.
Thank you Daryl.